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RedDog
07-31-2002, 09:44 PM
No not boat performance - I just installed a cable modem on my computer and the fast internet speed is great!

I highly recommend it over dial-up service so far. My provider is Comcast and installation and network setups were very easy and straight forward - bought a self-installation kit from Circuit City - just need a cable connection split off of your TV and either an ethernet or USB port off of your computer.

HyperDonzi
07-31-2002, 10:35 PM
had it less than a month, want a cd, boom its done try looking for movies still in theatres...
only one problem, just stops working sometimes.
but the deff. of technology is new stuff that dosent quite work correctly all the time.

EricG
08-01-2002, 10:23 AM
Cool....keep supporting your local cable company!

I managed our first launch of Cable Modem Service about 3-4 years ago....The installation process has sure gotten a heck of a lot easier since then!!

At that time, there were a ton of company's doing everything they could to lure the cable operators to partner with them to launch data service...I even got to ride out to one of their headquaters in a Stretch Hummer limo. I also went to Excite@home's corporate offices a few times, and was always blown away by how much money they spent on showy "Control Centers" and Conference rooms to lure partners....I miss the DotCom days :D

Anyway, just some senseless rambling from a cable IT guy...

-EG

mjpcowboy
08-01-2002, 12:23 PM
Another option to look at is a DSL. I had a cable modem for over a year and sometimes it was down as much as it worked. Cable can be very fast or very slow depending on how many people are on the system. I have had my DSL for several months with no down time and very consistent fast speed. Also added a wireless unit to my son's computer so he is not always using mine. All options are getting better. Rick :rolleyes:

Rootsy
08-01-2002, 12:45 PM
unless you live in BFE like me and you are destined to a the dial-up prison... gotta love the "56K connection that could really only be 26K cause of errors" heck directTV nor verizon nor anyone else even offer DSL OR local channels in my area... and there is no cable... but hey... i have a lake and a donzi so who needs TV!

oldLenny
08-01-2002, 10:45 PM
ADSL,HDSL, xDSL, it's the only way to go...All I do is look after DSL, Routers, DSLAM, Alcatel, Stingers, Newbridge, M-phase, various POTS splitters and "ramps" at night as well as their "Optical" partners (Lucent, Nortel, DMS, Newbridge, Alcatel, T-Dax: SLC, FAST, 5ESS, GTD5 etc.) We offer 1.5 MB for about $25.00 a month including your dialtone and number and 4 MB for business's at about $40.00 plus your listing. (those are US dollars)

Unfortunately, I live in a rural mountainous area, and all I have is 28k-ish and dial up...

Jamie, you could opt for 56K "true 56K" leaving the 8th bit for signalling, hence no errors, this is a standard "DCB or channel bank circuit" or get 64K "clear channel signalling" with the signalling and handshakes in the overhead on a ESF span (extended superframe...format) hence you don't lose the last bit in quantization when making up the PAM sample... These are cheaper alternatives.

Of the 8 bits in a PAM (pulse amplitude modulation)sample, 7 are for the original signal, 1 for encoding/stop bit/far end signalling. All this sampled at 8000 times per second ( twice the highest frequency, eg: 4KhZ, I believe the "Norquist Theorum") creating the 64K/bps. Lost is the last or "stop" bit for information from the package. Hence, 56k/bps, the rest is the information. Moving into SONET (synchronous optical network) or ESF, (extended Superframe format, an EC-1 signal, same speed as optical but electrical) moves the stop bit and/or info into the "overhead of the span" outside of the 8 bit x 8000 times a second equation hence giving you back the full 8 bits for data transfer and there is no signalling in the information package. OR,... you could opt for a full span (yes, all 24 channels at 64K) and get a "nailed" connection of 1.544 MbS, (same as entry level DSL). When we set up a DSL line, a good one mind you, we often see 6-8 Meg of throughput error free. Then we "choke" it back to 1.5 for re-sale and "bang for the buck" bandwidth.
Most all of our stuff runs on OC-48 and OC-192 backbones, (2.07 GIG-8.3 GIG) and is "dynamic" using ATM (asychronous transfer mode) and PACKET technology. Current "offerings" here are limited to 1.5 MEG and no less. We don't sell a service that is "quite fast". 1.5 or more, or NOTHING.

Current terrestrial limits are about 3 miles from the nearest OPTICAL office. This is a one way measurement to your house. " Extended Reach" products are no better. Unfortunately the 3 miles almost always goes beyond your measured distance as the cable from an office does not "stop" at your place on that "pair" of wires. It goes far beyond and the capacitance measured through this extra length is what shuts down your ability to provide decent high speed service. If you cut the pair at the house that wants the service it fixes that problem but when you cancel it and move away, this "spare" pair in the air (or underground) doesn't go beyond your place and hence the customer further down the road hasn't got access to this complete path ('cuz it was chopped) and the dollar value on providing any type of service to the new customer goes WAY UP!

...wish I had DSL, but with one home per 5-10 acres here penetration would be worthless.

The trouble with cable , hence why banks don't use it, is security for one and bandwidth for another. They, banks, move MASSIVE amounts of data, very sensitive etc. Cable in design is a giant pipe with no boundaries in regards to encoding its' signal and proprietory timeslots. Hence why the "pipe" comes to your home for the TV and the filters outside restrict frequencies (hence certain bandwidths)to the channels you don't pay for. Remove them and she's wide open. Digital cable is simply a de-coding device on the "BIG PIPE" for encryted signals. Again, that is why there are "Tiers" to cable packages. You can't have one set of things without the others as the encrytion at one end opens up the other...
What you are sending back and forth right now is also on the back of the "pipe" at your neighbours house only he hasn't got the time or know how to "strip it".

The other issue, bandwidth, is the fact that cable is a wonderful, high speed conduit, able to transfer about a 60-90 MbS load of info. (depending on service provided by the local cable company). Cable IP is within the coaxial cable but at a different frequency and interleaved. It stands apart from the TV bandwidth. When you come home at 2 in the morning and use the computer, the rest of the world is asleep, and you get the "full" pipe only you have been "choked" to a certain given, let's say 1.5 meg. (This would allow about 60 customers to get full bandwidth on any given NID.) When it is 6 o'clock at night and the whole world is awake and at home, the bandwidth of this "single pipe" gets chopped into hundreds of tiny segments, time slots if you like. 90 MbS divided by 100 people at home and online right now in the same given "NID" takes you down to 900k. 1000 people, 90k...Any cable modem people here I am sure can answer this. We use coaxial cable in our Central Offices for electrical (EC1-3) connections between pieces of equipment. We run nothing larger(faster) than 43 MbS with this cable. Everything else is fibre and we now can move "tera-bits" (trillion bits per second) on light.

In telephony, you have a FIXED GIVEN BANDWIDTH of 1.5 MbS or more. End of story. Actual throughput of the signal you want is about 1.35MbS due to Internet Protocol(the overhead). No data-rate changes and your info isn't going to your neighbours house at the same time on the "big pipe" (coaxial cable). And as well you can still have a phone line and dialtone, you can talk on the phone and send a fax with only cutting down your available bandwidth for the duration of these events. It is yours and yours alone.

P.S. Our banks DON'T use the Internet for banking. They use "nailed" connections at 1.544 MbS, twisted pair to fibre, or fiber period, from the physical location to a Central Office (phone company) then out at higher speed towards a destination. These services are on their own. They are the same circuit designs as our Lotteries use...yet WE are encouraged to use "Internet Banking" (service fees is the real underlying meaning)

On another, even MORE twisted note ...

Since the mention of "Verizon" above...Our largest single shareholder is Verizon at 27 1/2%, formerly known as GTE, formerly known as Chicago Telephone and Telegraph.

After the turn of the century, the last one, early 1900's, the cross Canada telephony link was all but in place except for B.C. and Quebec. We had NO money, British Columbia and Quebec,(story of our lives) so the Canadian Government allowed foreign intervention and money influxes in order to create this seamless telecommunications network. Hence Chicago Telephone and Telegraph (GTE). They were allowed to own %51 of our voting stock in return for their captial investment. We were contolled by them up until about 1999. Now they divested their exposure back to 27 1/2% after our merger (B.C.'s) with Alberta and Quebec. Current regulatory law dictates a maximum of 33 1/3% foreign ownership. That is why the BIG TELECOMS from down there don't YET own everything up here. It will change apparently at the end of 2003.

...a little unwanted background for no reason at all...

HyperDonzi
08-01-2002, 11:18 PM
the 28k ish dial up sucks, try net zero, 40hrs free on a name per month, then make a new one. on their service i have never logged on below 49kb.

Moody Blu'
08-02-2002, 12:10 AM
yes cable kicks arse!

Rootsy
08-02-2002, 07:54 AM
oh initial connection speed is not the issue i can get 49.2 - 51K BUT it's the transfer errors that kill you cause for every one the connection is renegotiated with the ISP at a lower speed until it is happy and no errors are being sent or something along those lines, i'm not expert i think lenny qualifies as that.. the majority of folks don't even realize this is happening cause windows doesn't tell you, it just keeps showing what you initially connected at...

so lenny, in dumb engineer (Jamie) english explain all this true 56K etc stuff that just totally gave me a bad headache... shoot me some mail if you would... wink

Jamie

HyperDonzi
08-02-2002, 12:12 PM
I never knew that. i thought once you connect, your on at that till you get kicked off.

Doug G
08-02-2002, 05:23 PM
Lenny,

What the **** did you say????

I've got Comcast, turn it on, it works.

Doug